Always There, Bro
by littlespider
Summary: An alternate ending to 3.06 "3XK." When the Triple Killer does a number on Ryan, he'll need the support of his partner- his brother- to get through it alive.
1. Chapter 1

Here's my alternate ending to Season 3 Episode 6, "3XK". After I watched this episode, I was severely disappointed in the level of Ryan whumping, and decided to remedy that when a quick fanfic. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: If I owned Castle, he and Beckett would be together, and we'd have a lot more funny, brotherly moments between Ryan and Esposito.

* * *

"Aren't you going to ask what happened?" Castle asked, watching Jerry carefully. He wasn't sure why, but something felt very off. "To your girlfriend, Donna. You didn't ask about her, you just asked about Gates. That doesn't make any sense unless…"

Ryan shot the writer turned crime-solver a questioning look, and Jerry shifted uncomfortably. Castle knew that this probably wasn't the best place to be working through a theory, but he couldn't stop himself from continuing.

"She was supposed to die."

Jerry let out a harsh sound that was probably supposed to be a laugh. "I don't know what you're—"

"And McCartle didn't get the money for the surgery until after you got out of prison." Castle now turned to Ryan, trying to speak faster in his urgency. "He's removing all evidence he was even there. It was _him_ all along. He's the real Triple Killer!"

Ryan hadn't really followed Castle's logic very well, but if there was one thing that he had learned while working with the sometimes-eccentric writer was that he had good instincts. The detective reached for his gun, but his second of hesitation had cost him. In that time, Jerry had crossed the short space separating them and slammed a fist into his stomach.

Ryan bent double as the wind was forced from his lungs, but stayed down and launched himself at Jerry. His momentum sent them both flying into the bed, and he was able to get in a punch or two as they rebounded off the cheap mattress. Ryan was reaching for his gun when the taller man was able to land a blow to his face, knocking him onto his back. He blinked as spots of light danced in front of his eyes, and then let loose a yelp of pain as a booted foot collided with his already bruised ribs. The kicks came again and again, and Ryan tried to roll away, again reaching for his gun.

Then the foot collided with his head, and a sickening crack sounded in the dingy room. Castle looked at the detective lying face down on the green shag carpet, blood dripping from a cut over his right eye, and then up to Jerry, who was advancing on him. Ryan's gun was in his hand, and he gave a smirk.

"Guilty as charged."

A swarm of police cars came screeching into the parking lot of the motel, lights flashing and sirens blaring. One of the cars had barely jerked to a stop when its doors flew open and two detectives hit the ground running. Beckett's longer legs gave her a slight advantage and she hit the stairs first, but she could hear Esposito's quick, steady steps as he worked his way up the other staircase. When they met in front of the room, Beckett paused only long enough to take a breath before kicking the door open.

"Castle?" She called, seeing a body tied to a chair right in the doorway. She didn't even care that her voice came out harsh and higher than usual, betraying her fear. All she could think about was that the body moved, and then it wasn't a body anymore, but Richard Castle, turning to squint into the light from her flashlight.

"He's gone. I'm okay," he responded, though he didn't sound one hundred percent himself. "But Ryan needs an ambulance."

At this, Esposito shouldered his way past Beckett and into the room. It didn't take him longer than half a second to locate his partner, lying crumpled and handcuffed near the end of the bed. He knelt beside him, trying to assess the damage. Ryan's lack of response to their voices worried him slightly.

"Hey, can one of you hit the lights?" he asked, fumbling as he removed the handcuffs from his unresponsive partner's wrists.

The lights flicked on, and Beckett joined Esposito on the floor. Together, they gently rolled the other detective over, and Esposito couldn't contain a curse at what he saw. There was a nasty gash on Ryan's forehead, that was swollen and bleeding. His shirt was ripped, and through the tears Esposito and Beckett could see many bruises beginning to form.

Javier ran a shaky hand over his face, but Beckett frowned and leaned closer. "What the hell?"

Gripping the already torn shirt, she ripped the fabric even more to get a better look at what she was positive was fractured ribs, and had to swallow back the bile that rose in her throat. What she had hoped was a trick of the light turned out to be a very white piece of bone that was now protruding from Ryan's torso. This was so not good.

"I'm calling an ambulance," Beckett announced, getting up and walking to the doorway. She wasn't sure if she could handle looking at a member of her team in that condition without getting physically sick.

Esposito, on the other hand, wasn't going to be leaving his partner's side any time soon. Checking Ryan's pulse, he asked, "Castle, do you know how long he's been unconscious?"

There was no response, and Javier turned around to find Castle still sitting in the chair by the door, looking at Ryan from a pale and haunted face. He looked like he could have used a stiff drink, or at least some physical contact, but Esposito had more important things to worry about at the moment.

"Castle!"

The writer jerked upright, and seemed to reconnect with the situation somewhat. "Wha?"

"Do you know how long he's been unconscious?"

Castle scrunched up his face in a frown, thinking. "Ten, maybe fifteen minutes. You guys didn't miss Jerry by that much."

Esposito frowned. Being out for so long after a head injury was never a good sign. He reached down and tapped his partner's cheeks, trying to rouse him. "Ryan. Hey, Ryan, wake up."

When that failed, he shook him roughly. "Kevin. Open your eyes, goddamn it."

Surprisingly, that did the trick. Blue eyes cracked open and squinted blearily up at him. Two seconds later, they began to close again, but Esposito shook his friend again. "Hey, don't do that. You've gotta stay awake, bro."

Although seemed to be making a valiant effort, Ryan's eyes slid shut. "Javi'r?" he slurred, before grimacing and sucking in a sharp breath. "Wher'm I? What happ'n'd?"

Javier was relieved that his friend was coherent enough to try and talk, but also slightly worried about the disorientation. "You and Castle decided to try and take on the Triple Killer without backup, that's what happened."

Ryan forced one eye open to see if his partner was lying to him. Ordinarily, he would have been able to read Esposito's face like a book. But right now, there were five of him, and it was seriously throwing Ryan off. He let his eye fall shut. "Th't sounds pr'tty stup'd."

"Yeah, bro, it was," Esposito laughed. The other man shifted slightly on the floor, and hissed in pain. "What hurts?"

"My h'd," Ryan grimaced, his face screwed up in pain. "Feels like sum'un's j'ckh'mm'ring… 'nd my chest. G'd, what'd he do t' me?"

"I wish I knew, bro," Esposito sighed sadly, attempting to wipe some of the blood off his partner's face with a tissue.

"How's Cas'le?"

"Alive and as good as can be expected," Javier answered, knowing that once Ryan was on the road to recovery, they could have the rest of this conversation. His friend seemed to accept that and stop worrying, because some of the lines on his face smoothed out.

"The paramedics are on their way," Beckett announced, returning to kneel by her fallen teammate. "Hang in there, Ryan."

"This is all my fault," a soft voice murmured from behind them.

They turned to find Castle gazing at them with a blank and yet morose expression. Beckett frowned at him. "Castle, don't say that. As a matter of fact, don't even _think_ that. There was nothing you could have done. You're lucky that he didn't do the same to you!"

Castle shook his head vehemently. "No, that's not—"

"Shit!"

Esposito's exclamation drew everyone's attention back to Ryan, who was coughing and obviously struggling to breathe. Although he was loathe to move him with busted up ribs, Esposito turned his partner on his side to try and clear his airway. "Hey, hey, breathe, bro. Just breathe, nice and easy."

In response, Ryan hacked up a mouthful of blood, which he spit onto the already discolored carpet. Gasping air into his abused lungs, he winced. "H'rts."

"I know, bro." Esposito was rubbing the other man's shoulder when he felt his body suddenly go slack. "Kevin?"

Her expression equally as tense, Beckett lowered her ear over the Irishman's mouth. She looked up at Javier, her eyes panicky. "He's not breathing."

With a strangled cry, Esposito leapt into action, beginning mouth to mouth and compressions. Beckett tried to wipe as much blood off of the Ryan's face as possible to make his partner's job easier.

"Come on Ryan, don't do this to us. Breathe!"

* * *

Well, this certainly took off on me didn't it? Well, if you'd like to see how it ends, I guess you'll just have to review!


	2. Chapter 2

This is a little sappy, but it's basically the brotherly fluffiness that I though this episode needed. Hope you enjoy.

A special shout out to Kerkerian-Horizon, Princess-Rachy, TutorGirlml, Reidluver, and lynneanne for reviewing!

* * *

"Come on Ryan, don't do this to us. Breathe!" Beckett all but shouted, feeling utterly helpless as Esposito continued his frantic CPR.

Then two things happened at once. The sound of approaching sirens pierced the air, and Ryan took a shuddering gasp. Esposito quickly turned the other detective on his side and patted his back lightly to help with airflow. Ryan coughed wetly, bringing up more blood. His breath came in harsh, shallow gasps and tears soon mingled with the blood on his face.

"Hey, bro, take it easy. The paramedics are almost here," Esposito reassured him, gripping Ryan's shoulder as if that contact was all that was keeping him alive.

"You hear that Ryan?" Beckett asked, peering into his face. He blinked woozily at her through the tears of pain that leaked from his eyes. "Just focus on breathing and don't even think about trying any funny business. That's an order."

Everyone in the room was too focused on listening to the painful gasps of the fallen detective to register the slight catch in Beckett's voice, and for that she was glad. She had been working with Esposito and Ryan for about five years, and in that time they had become more than just a team, they'd become a family. Beckett thought of the other two detectives as the brothers she'd never had, and she'd be damned if she let anything else happen to them.

The sirens sounded again, this time closer than before. Castle hurried out the door, and less than a minute later returned with the paramedics hot on his heels. The quickly transferred Ryan onto a stretcher, listening as Beckett relayed what had happened. After a brief examination, it was determined that the best they could do for the detective was to get him to a hospital as soon as possible. The paramedics took off with him down the stairs.

Esposito kept pace with them step for step, until they started loading his partner into the ambulance. One of the paramedics stopped him there. "I'm sorry sir, but there's no room. You can meet us at the hospital."

"Tough shit," Esposito grounded out, his eyes shooting sparks. "That's my partner in there, so make room."

A low beeping noise slowly roused him from unconsciousness. The first thing he registered was the overly sterile smell, and he crinkled his nose. Ugh, he was at the hospital. And if he didn't remember how he had gotten there, that must mean that he was hurt pretty bad. Not that he could feel anything at the moment but pleasantly numb; they must have him on the good stuff.

"Ryan?"

It took way more effort than it should for him to pry his eyes open, and when he finally did, he had to blink a few times to clear his vision. Carefully, he turned his head to the side and found his boss, Kate Beckett, keeping watch in one of those uncomfortable hospital chairs.

"Hey," she said, smiling at him with something that he recognized as relief. It really must have been bad then. "How're you feeling?"

"N-" Ryan paused to clear his throat, which felt remarkably sore, as though someone had sandpapered it while he'd been asleep. "Not too bad. What happened?"

Beckett didn't look phased by the question at all. Ryan's doctors had told them that, with a head injury like that, a some short term memory loss was to be expected. "You and Castle went to talk to Jerry Tyson."

"He was the Triple Killer," Ryan whispered, pieces of a conversation coming back to him. "The _real_ Triple Killer. He got me real bad, didn't he?"

Beckett bit her lip before answering as simply and calmly as possible, so as not to freak him out. "He gave you a pretty nasty concussion. He broke one of your ribs, cracked a few others. One of them shifted and pierced your lung. Ryan… we almost lost you."

Ryan just blinked. "Oh."

They lapsed into silence, the beeping of the monitors fading into the background. Ryan must have dosed off, because the next thing he knew, his eyes were closed again and he was listening to Beckett talk with someone.

"Has he woken up yet?" Was that Esposito?

"He was up briefly about an hour ago. We talked a little bit about what happened. All and all he seems better than I was expecting."

Some very interesting Spanish curses graced the otherwise silent hospital room. Yep, it was definitely Esposito. "I should have been here when he woke up."

Ryan decided that he didn't like the guilty tone his partner was using. "Javi?"

There was the sound of footsteps, and then the door opened and closed. Beckett must be giving the two boys a moment to themselves. Ryan felt a hand latch onto his. "Yeah, bro, I'm right here."

Ryan forced his eyes open yet again, and found himself staring into the tired face of his partner. Esposito had new lines on his face and Ryan wondered if he had given him those. He probably had; God knew that half of the lines on his own face were due to the crazy stunts the Hispanic detective pulled from time to time.

"You okay?"

Esposito laughed at him, some of the lines lessening. "Now I am. How're you feeling?"

"Like I just met the Triple Killer," Ryan quipped, the corner of his mouth lifting in a small smile. He regretted it a second later, though, when even that small movement sent pain lancing through his skull. He must have winced, because Javier immediately looked concerned again.

"The pain meds wearing off?"

"Yeah." Now that he'd mentioned it, Ryan was starting to feel the ache in his chest along with the beginnings of the headache.

Esposito hit something on one of the machines, and turned back to his partner. "Give it a second, bro, and these meds should kick in."

Ryan could feel them already, dulling the pain to a bearable level. His voice came out as a sigh. "Thanks."

The two partners sat in silence for a minute, Esposito's hand still gripping Ryan's. They could be manly and macho some other time; right now, he was still finding it difficult to believe that he had almost lost his partner.

"I'm okay, you know." Ryan murmured, looking at his friend through half-lidded eyes.

Esposito laughed again, but this time it came out sounding harsh and bitter. "Yeah, sure you are. This wouldn't have happened if I had been there with you."

"Javi—"

"Don't try to tell me it isn't true," Esposito said, his hand clenching around his friend's slightly. "Castle told us what happened, what he did."

Ryan frowned. "This isn't his fault."

"Kevin, he could have gotten you killed!"

"If I had just caught on to what he was saying quicker—" Ryan clamped his mouth shut. From the look on Esposito's face, he'd said something really wrong.

"Don't you even think that," the Hispanic detective said quietly. "A guy's partner is supposed to have his back. Castle should have known better to be spinning theories like that in front of a suspect."

Ryan closed his eyes tiredly. The pain meds were really starting to kick in, but all this talking was making his head throb. Instantly, cool hands were brushing hair off his forehead, and he leaned into the soothing touch. Ordinarily, he would've died of embarrassment at the touchy-feeling moment he and Esposito were having. Right now… well, right now he was probably high and he could tell that his partner needed the contact just as much – if not more – than he did.

"I'm sorry," Esposito said softly. "We can talk about this later."

"Don't worry 'bout it," Ryan replied. "Though Beckett must really have a death wish."

"What do you mean?"

"Castle was only with me for a few hours. Can you imagine the kind of trouble you could get into being with him all day?"

Esposito's laugh rang out through the too quiet hospital room, and that was when Ryan knew that he really was going to be okay.


End file.
